John Connolly (FBI)

John Joseph Connolly Jr. (1 August 1940-) was an FBI agent who was sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison by both federal and state courts due to his criminal partnership with Winter Hill Gang boss Whitey Bulger in Boston.

Biography
John Joseph Connolly Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1940, and his family moved to South Boston in 1952. He grew up next to Whitey Bulger, who chased away some boys who were bullying Connolly in a park, and the two became friends. Connolly went on to attend Boston College and Harvard University, and he was appointed to the FBI in October 1968. He worked in Baltimore, San Francisco, and New York City before being transferred back home to Boston in 1973 so that he could be closer to his ailing father. In 1975, he reunited with the Bulger family, first having lunch with State Senator William Bulger, and later convincing Whitey (by now the leader of the Winter Hill Gang) and his lieutenant Stephen Flemmi to become FBI informants in order to help Connolly in his fight against the Mafia. Connolly was given a significant amount of credit for taking down the Patriarca crime family in Boston, but, in 1999, he was indicted on charges of alerting Bulger to investigations, falsifying FBI reports to cover their crimes, and accepting bribes. In 2002, he was convicted on racketeering charges and sentenced to ten years in federal prison. In 2008, he was convicted of second-degree murder in Florida and sentenced to 40 more years in prison.